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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Telugu of United Arab Emirates

The Telugu of United Arab Emirates, numbering approximately 518,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an Indo-Iranian ethnolinguistic group indigenous to the India states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Puducherry. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Telugu is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Telugu

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: United Arab Emirates
People Cluster: Telugu
Primary Language(s): Telugu (tel)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 518,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG012259
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Pray for the Telugu of United Arab Emirates

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

—
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Telugu
Language Family: Dravidian

100%
%
Telugu Speakers

Media Resources in Telugu:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film
The SaviorView Film

4 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Telugu:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Contemporary Version✓
Contemporary Version - LUMO Christmas Film✓
Contemporary Version - LUMO Easter Film✓
Easy to Read Version✓✓
Grace Ministries✓✓

5 entries

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Telugu bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Telugu are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Next steps for the Telugu:
Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

Pray specifically for the Telugu of United Arab Emirates

Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.
readRomans 11:22

Pray that God will transform those who persist in unbelief and, in His everlasting kindness, graft them into His family.

No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
readLuke 13:3

Pray that the lost will repent and believe the gospel, for without it, they will perish.

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
readJohn 10:28

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will have assurance of eternal life, knowing that no one can snatch them out of the loving hand of Jesus.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
readPsalm 139:14

Praise God for His creativity and power, and pray that He will raise up men and women from among them who are in awe of all He has done and want to go share the hope of Christ with others.

Telugu Across Countries (ROP3 - 109930) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

10 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
TeluguPG012259TeluguUnited Arab Emirates518,000Engaged yet UnreachedTeluguSunni Islam
TeluguPG047224TeluguUnited States428,000Engaged yet UnreachedTeluguHinduism
TeluguPG009533TeluguMyanmar271,000Engaged yet UnreachedTeluguFolk Hinduism
TeluguPG009356TeluguMalaysia138,000No Longer UnreachedTeluguHinduism
TeluguPG011307TeluguBahrain34,500Engaged yet UnreachedTeluguSunni Islam
TeluguPG043486TeluguCanada17,500Engaged yet UnreachedTeluguHinduism
TeluguPG006443TeluguSri Lanka13,000No Longer UnreachedTeluguHinduism
TeluguPG001213TeluguBangladesh12,000Engaged yet UnreachedTeluguHinduism
TeluguPG010724TeluguSingapore850No Longer UnreachedTeluguHinduism
TeluguPG011808TeluguKuwait850Engaged yet UnreachedTeluguSunni Islam

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Data Standards section.

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